Now it would seem that JapanFiles.com has once again approached the community, this time offering up something of an olive branch. While they are still standing their ground in regards to the zero-tolerance of illegal downloads, they are now attempting to work with the community. Instead of their previous slash-and-burn tactics, they are now offering to regularly keep the community up-to-date with their artist list, notifying them of new acquisitions as soon as they go live on their site. They then expect all tags, posts and links to be removed from the community within 48 hours. It is only then that they will pursue legal action.

They've even gone so far as to set up their own LJ account to directly field questions and concerns from community members. The truly amazing thing is that the member reactions have been extremely civil and downright intelligent (with a few exceptions of course.) Right now it seems like the community is still skeptical about JapanFiles.com, their tactics and even their legitimacy as a company (see below.) Hit the jump for JapanFiles.com's initial email, and the resulting FAQ in which they answer a few of the users' biggest concerns.

From the JapanFiles.com email:

We'd like to talk to you and your community about a compromise in our copyright enforcement policies. In earlier posts, you commented that requests for cooperation would be listened to, so we'd like to give that a shot.

While the sharing of copyrighted material remains illegal, we understand that many fans of Japanese music will be confused about the lack of consistency in the enforcement of that rule by major and minor Japanese labels.

In addition, many Japanese bands who are shared in this community are not under USA copyright one day, and then suddenly under USA copyright the next. An example of this is the group Dazzle Vision, who is currently tagged in your community. JapanFiles.com will release their material next week.

We'd like to offer the following solution so that your members do not feel unfairly targeted.

1. This LJ account will openly post in the community in a non-hostile manner.
2. If there is a band about to be released who is currently tagged in your community, we will contact the admins directly with the request to remove that tag.
3. We will maintain a current list of bands who are off limits under our copyright.
4. Users who upload material by bands on our list will be given 24 hour notice to remove their post before they are reported to LiveJournal.

Unfortunately, for users who ignore warnings (examples of this are recent posts featuring Head Phones President and BESPA KUMAMERO) or repeatedly upload bands represented by JapanFiles.com, we must utilize the tools provided to us by LiveJournal and the DMCA regulations.

(**For those users who claim to want to listen to full album content, we have a page on Last.FM which holds many of our releases with full track previews. We are sincerely attempting to meet music fans halfway.)

We will also be happy to engage in open dialogue with your community members if they have questions. Again, we can pledge to hold these conversations in a non-hostile manner.

We are reaching out to you and other LJ communities now because the next 6 months will see a great increase in our roster of partner bands, some small and some quite major that your members are sure to recognize. If your community members are willing to abide by the legal guidelines, we think we can reach a lasting compromise.

From there, a more fully fleshed-out FAQ was created (some of the moderator's editorial comments have been removed):

About Japanfiles.com:

We want to inform your users that our staff works directly, face-to-face, with almost every label on our website. In some cases, we spend weeks with them on tour here in the USA. JapanFiles.com was formed and is operated by people who love Japanese music and treat the artists and their management with respect. We know the difference every dollar makes. 30 illegal downloads of a single album equals the money a band needs to pay for 2 hotel rooms in your city so they can play a live show. Or it pays for the van rental to support a tour. If we can engage in open forum later, we hope to educate your users more on how important their economic involvement is to building a greater Japanese music scene here and around the world.

F.A.Q:

Q: Are you a legitimate company? I find it hard to believe that the Japanese recording industry would hand over the reigns to a US-based company not affiliated with their label in some way...

A: Our contracts are confidential, and are only disclosed to the legal agents of official corporations. For example, our Live365.com station lists us as "official" because we had to disclose selected contracts to prove our right to broadcast the artists. Our Last.fm page lists us as the official label for the artists we have uploaded because of the same process. The DMCA regulations which allow us to file official complaint with LiveJournal, MegaUpload, MediaFire, etc. also require that we maintain such documentation.

So as to questions of our legitimacy, we can assure you and your members that our company operations are 100% legitimate, and we pay out revenue to our partner bands from their MP3 sales as well as for the many live performance events we personally supervise. In fact, the digital sales are a direct factor in who is invited by an anime con, so the financial support of fans for bands they like really makes a difference in bringing them to the USA.

Q: Are you registered with the RIAA? Do you have to negotiate rates and contracts with every small-time or independent label?

A: We cannot disclose any details about our rates and contracts as there are differences between various labels/independent bands.
RIAA contracts also vary depending if a band/label has officially registered with a U.S. agent for royalties.

Q: Do you choose the bands you represent, or do they come to you?

A: It happens both ways. Our company has a very strong reputation in Japan, where most labels are highly untrusting of American companies.

If there is a band/label that you don't see on JapanFiles, it is most likely because (a) the label is not currently interested in USA digital sales; (b) the label is currently prohibited due to other contracts; (c -- and most common) the label is waiting to see how many American customers will support legal purchases Japanese music. (*The Japanese labels clearly see the rampant piracy, even for artists they have licensed to high-profile legal-download services like iTunes. So the view of the American audience is overwhelmingly negative.)

Q: Why are you using japanfiles_cali to post/comment and not japanfiles? On a similar note, whats with the @yahoo.com email address?

A: The _cali name has been created specifically for interaction with a large and possibly hostile user group and in order to protect the IP addresses of our office personnel. As you point out, there is not one singular leader for this or the other LJ communities we are addressing, so we have to be cautious for business reasons. The generic Yahoo address fulfills the same purpose.

Q: HearJapan.com doesn't report posts. What's up with that?

A: HearJapan is not a USA-based company so cannot legally file DMCA complaints.

Q: What is your policy on disbanded bands or artists dropped from their label?

A: As long as our contract with the band remains in effect, we must honor that contract to its full extent. The artists are still entitled to full royalties for sales of their music. The Beatles are broken up, and their representative are still paid accordingly.

Q: What about the 24- 48- hour warning?

A: For those concerned about our 24-hour warning, it is not to be confused with 24 hours from the time a band is announced or added to our official list. We intend to provide your community with much more notice of additions, as they are set to happen at any time once contracts are completed.

The 24- 48- hour warning is meant to be a fair way to assist anyone who made an honest mistake by not checking your community guidelines which already clearly link to a list of prohibited bands which fall under USA copyright.

We can compromise on the warning time and allow 48 hours notice for users who inadvertently upload a band protected by our copyright. But this can only be a one-time warning for an honest mistake. Open or repeated abuse must be dealt with through the avenues provided to us by law.

Q: How much "advertising" are we talking here?

A: We do not intend to use this or any other community for advertising purposes. Our goal is information and copyright protection. We feel an open declaration of upcoming bands is the best way to avoid miscommunication, but if the majority of your users do not wish to see this, they will then have to do a more thorough job of checking our updates. In other words, it is more of a "heads-up..." than "come visit this site!" post.

Since we are looking for a long-term peaceful solution, we welcome further dialog.

Ultimately, while JapanFiles.com is working completely within their lawful rights, the community remains suspicious due to various security issues and lack of documentation. Yet both sides seem to actually be talking to each other, and it feels like both parties are learning a thing or two. While the community doesn't really have a leg to stand on in the legal department, they have poked a few holes into JapanFiles.com's armor. It seems like, for perhaps the first time, some good may come out of all this for both sides.